I'll Wait for You Here
by Gamja the Wolf's Fang
Summary: AoshiMisao Songfic, One-Shot, somewhat OOCness. R&R please! Lyrics from Audioslave's Like a Stone


Disclaimers: I DO NOT own Rurouni Kenshin or any of its characters, namely Shinomori Aoshi, Makimachi Misao, or Himura Kenshin. I also do not own the band Audioslave or any of its songs, especially Like a Stone and its lyrics.  
  
Author: Hiya folks! This my first time at writing ANYTHING for any subject, so please go easy on me on the flames. ^_^'' *cringes from upcoming onslaught*  
  
This songfic uses the lyrics from Audioslave's "Like a Stone" (which, again, I do not own).  
  
Plus, I will always be changing a few things in this fic to *try* to make it better. But I need feedback! XD  
  
**= lyrics ""= speech ''= thoughts  
  
:D I'd Italicize if I knew how...*grumble*  
  
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I'll Wait for You There  
  
*In a cobweb afternoon*  
  
*In a room full of emptiness*  
  
The Kyoto temple was silent as the grave, filled with nothing but silence, dust, cold, and one man dressed in an obi. A person standing at the doorway could hear birds chirping their melody and the far off ruckus of children frolicking out in the winter sun. But the world outside was closed off to one Shinomori Aoshi...  
  
*By a freeway I confess*  
  
*I was lost in the pages*  
  
*Of a book full of death*  
  
*Reading how we'll die alone*  
  
The book in Aoshi's hands stayed on the same page, as it has been for the last year. He occasionally looked down, catching a few words, words that soon would be lost in the oblivion of Aoshi's tortured memory...  
  
*And if we're good we'll lay to rest*  
  
*Anywhere we want to go*  
  
'How long as it been since my Misao had left?' He thought. 'One year? Two years? Ten?' It seemed so long ago, but the pain of chasing the one person he loved stayed with him for those torturous times. The few memories that he kept intact in his mind suddenly sprang up through him like a geyser, filling him with an agony that he hadn't felt since that dark day about a year ago...  
  
-Flashback: The Aoiya 1 year ago-  
  
"Aoshi-sama, a-ashiteru..." Aoshi's eyes opened up wide in shock and surprise, looking into the hopeful eyes of his young charge. "Do you love me too, Aoshi-sama?"  
  
Adrenaline pumped through his head, one side of his heart screaming, 'Yes! Tell her yes!' Aoshi opened up his mouth, staring into the hauntingly beautiful, ocean-spray eyes of the seventeen year old Misao.  
  
"I-iie."  
  
It was Misao's turn to widen her eyes in shock. But this time, her eyes were also full of hurt.  
  
Four words echoed in his mind: 'What are you thinking?'  
  
"Misao...stop acting like a child and end this infatuation of yours-" Misao's heart shattered into a thousand pieces then and there.  
  
Before Aoshi could tell her anything more, tears spilled out of her eyes like a waterfall, the liquid in her eyes making them seem like large spheres of jade. They reminded Aoshi of the blue-green sea that he saw with his dead father years ago...  
  
Misao ran out of the room, and out of Aoshi's life...  
  
-End flashback-  
  
*In your house I long to be*  
  
*Room by room patiently*  
  
*I'll wait for you there*  
  
*Like a stone I'll wait for you there*  
  
*Alone, alone*  
  
Something wet fell on the book that had slipped from his grasp, slowly freezing into the paper cover. It took Aoshi a little while to realize that he'd been crying, something that he hadn't done in twenty-four years: yet it felt so relieving. 'Stop it you ahou. Stop being weak and thinking of her. Get over it.' Was he being weak?  
  
For the first time in his life, Aoshi had decided that he liked being weak. He gathered up his crossed legs to his chest and sobbed his pain out.  
  
Being weak felt so soothing...  
  
-Some inn near Kyoto-  
  
*On my deathbed I will pray*  
  
*To the gods and the angels *  
  
*Like a pagan to anyone*  
  
*Who will take me to heaven*  
  
Misao opened up her eyes, the first thing greeting her painful slumber a rickety wooden ceiling. Gathering her senses to her, she wiggled her arms a little bit and tried swallowing (a good while on the road taught her to check for these things after waking up from unconsciousness), then from the dry sticky feeling in her throat, decided that she was parched. She tried getting up for a cup of water, then stopped as fire spread from her side and legs to the rest of her body. Her grunt of pain woke up her caretaker who was dozing off at her bedside. The kindly old man wheezed out, "Woken up already, have you? You should stay in bed a little longer, young one." Lying back down, Misao croaked, "Thirsty..." The old man beside her nodded and shuffled off to fetch something to drink.  
  
Misao relaxed in her bed and tried to recall the events of the before. A grass covered dirt road; bandits; a crack of thunder and sharp pain. She tried to remember why she was on the dirt road anyway. Then she vaguely remembered, 'I was going to Kyoto...my house of painful memories...'  
  
*To a place I recall*  
  
*I was there so long ago*  
  
For a year, Misao had traveled up and down Japan, picking up odd jobs, making new friends and enemies (none of which that lasted), and breaking out of the sheltered life that she was used to living in. She thought she had liked the rurouni's life, sometimes pretending that she was Himura Kenshin himself. 'Heh, I used to think that I would one day decide to stay at a dojo and fall in love with the assistant master there. Such old memories.'  
  
But even a couple thousand mile's worth of traveling couldn't get her away from the pain in her heart. As she lay there wounded on the bed, something inside her clicked: 'The pain in my heart...It's Aoshi-sama.' Right then she knew what she had to do; get back to Aoshi. Return to the house that sheltered her for so many years. Something inside her mind told her that Aoshi was waiting...  
  
*The sky was bruised*  
  
*The wine was bled*  
  
*And there you lead me on*  
  
After a few more days of rest, she picked up her traveling cloak, walking stick and traveling sack and limped out the inn door, ignoring the keeper's protests to tend to her injuries some more. She didn't care, she needed to get back to her Aoshi-sama: if she didn't see him soon enough, her wounds would never heal. She knew that his words on that day dark day weren't meant to be said, she saw it in his eyes, but for the entire year as wanderer she was afraid to face her love and come back to him. She just hoped it wasn't too late for redemption.  
  
-Back at the Aoiya-  
  
*In your house I long to be*  
  
*Room by room patiently*  
  
*I'll wait for you there*  
  
*Like a stone I'll wait for you there*  
  
*Alone, alone*  
  
Aoshi sat in his room, his face looking pale and haggard; a mask he'd always been wearing since Misao's absence. 'I'll wait for you Misao...no matter how long it takes, I'll wait for you here...'  
  
*And on I read*  
  
*Until the day was gone*  
  
-The next day, the streets of Kyoto-  
  
Aoshi strolled down the streets of Kyoto, each deserted shop looking like the entrance to a catacomb. He didn't know why he was walking on this particular day: the combination of the cold and internal torture usually kept him inside. But despite the pain, something called him to go outside. The snow underneath his feet made a satisfying "crunch" every step, slightly soothing his aching heart.  
  
Little did he know that his Misao was limping towards him, her strong will pushing her on towards a goal that even she did not know or understand. Each had their own regrets and separate thoughts: 'Why did I leave?' 'Why did I chase her away when all she wanted to do was ease me of my internal agony?'  
  
*And I sat in regret*  
  
*Of all the things I've done*  
  
*For all that I've blessed*  
  
*And all that I've wronged*  
  
*In dreams until my death*  
  
*I will wonder on*  
  
'Just a little more,' thought Misao. 'Come on, I can see him in the distance...I know that's him...' Each step filled her body with a numbing pain, but she endured it all, for she had joy in her heart.  
  
Aoshi sensed a familiar presence nearby, one of that he hadn't felt in a long time. A short cloaked figure was struggling onwards in his direction. 'A mere beggar. Perhaps I'll invite him to the Aoiya.' But why was that presence so familiar? he wondered.  
  
Suddenly the figure stopped in front of him, lifting the hood out of its aquamarine eyes...eyes that he had longed to see for so long.  
  
"M-Misao?"  
  
"A-Aoshi-sama..."  
  
Catching the falling girl in his arms, Aoshi noticed that she had a nasty cut on her side and a bullet wound in left leg. He whispered to her while embracing her cold body, "Misao...oh kami sama, what happened to you?" Without waiting for an answer, he dashed for the Aoiya.  
  
As it was midnight, the Aoiya was dark and empty. Aoshi quickly prepared some hot water, rags, and some bandages. Fortunately, Misao's wounds had been treated before so all there was to do was rebandage them and clean them up. But there was the question of getting her warmed up. So Aoshi decided to let her rest in her old room.  
  
"Aoshi-sama..." Aoshi almost dropped the basin he was holding. Quickly rushing to Misao's side, he asked if anything was wrong, then abruptly stopped when he saw that there were tears of joy in her eyes and a wan smile on face. "Aoshi-sama...I've missed you so much..."  
  
He couldn't stand it anymore. Shock, pain, sorrow and regret on his face, he carefully wrapped his arms around Misao's thin form and buried his face in her shoulders.  
  
*In your house I long to be*  
  
*Room by room patiently*  
  
*I'll wait for you there*  
  
*Like a stone I'll wait for you there*  
  
*Alone, alone*  
  
His voice cracking, Aoshi muttered, "Misao...g-gomen. Gomen nasai. I shouldn't have said those things to you." She warmly replied, "Aoshi, I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have left and had everyone worry about me-" She stopped when she felt Aoshi shaking and her shoulder started to feel wet. 'Was he crying?' she thought. She'd never seen him cry before. So she just held him, letting her own dam burst in her eyes.  
  
"Misao, you're back...I've been waiting for you so long here..." "Aoshi-sama...tadaima..."  
  
Who knew that one little weasel girl could reduce an Okashira to a weeping wretch?  
  
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Oswari! Reviews and constructive criticisms are much appreciated!  
  
And I hoped you enjoyed my crappy, depressing little fic. Arigato for sitting through the whole thing. :D  
  
And now some thanks to my wonderful reviewers:  
  
K-chan9: :D Once again, thanks for the review! And don't worry, I'm trying to fix it up as I go.  
  
Illegiblewriter: O_O really? Wow, thanks! I never expected to get such great reviews. :D  
  
Arisusa: Lol, thanks a lot!  
  
Ah, my reviewers give me too much credit... *wipes joyful tear from eye* 


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